Hello and welcome back to the South Madison Farmers’ Market blog! Keep an eye out for occasional posts, even during the offseason!

With Thanksgiving only a day away, today’s post will focus on the variety of traditional holiday meals. Last week we spoke with members of Nehemiah’s Man Up group, Robert Pierce and members of the UW-Madison capstone course affiliated with the SMFM about their favorite holiday foods.

We’ll start with the main dish. Everyone we spoke with adores the traditional roasted turkey. However, Anthony Cooper and Robert Pierce twist up the turkey recipe by deep frying it. Robert also mentioned that he enjoys breaking out the grill for barbecued beef ribs.

Some students said they enjoy them mashed with a brown sugar crumble on top, while others eat it as a dessert.

This brought up a debate over sweet potato pie – some people had never had it before, while others consider it an essential dessert!

Anthony and Aaron from the Nehemiah center couldn’t believe that people had not tasted a sweet potato pie before. It was a humbling experience that shows the diverse backgrounds we come from. What some may think of as normal might not be for others. We decided to make one and share it at a future Man Up meeting. We’ll update you on the results!

While we’re on the topic of dessert, we know what’s on everybody’s mind – pies! They range from pecan, to cherry, to blueberry, to pumpkin (which Robert enjoys making from the pumpkins he grows).

Other ways that people finish the feast include carrot cake, monster cookies (Peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, cinnamon), and jello.

We hope your mouth didn’t water too much while reading about all these amazing dishes. Thank you for checking out our first of a series of blog posts!

If you have any dishes or cooking techniques we didn’t mention we would love to hear them in the comments or on our Facebook page.